selvaraja somiah’s twisted thoughts

Me, just an ordinary Penangite who spent a good part of my learning life in North Borneo and Kathmandu. I’m a geologist turned freelance writer who’s joining the blog sphere now. What I post are my general views, my ramblings, and opinions of my thoughts of what is happening in my country. You are welcome to write your comments, but seditious and racial remarks will be deleted. I am no big writer but will try my best to provide my thoughts with my simple English. I welcome suggestions and opinions on my blog so that it can be improved further for the benefit of all.

Tomorrow is Penanti by- elections. And the good news is, I just received a call from my Umno strongman, my friend, Idris Othman from Kelawai, Penang, and he said, most Umno members in Penanti will boycot the polling tomorrow. It seems Umno members in Penanti feel played out by Umno and are very unhappy with the leadership for not contesting in the by-elections. The word used by many is, Mana Muka? HARPRAK Umno!

Even Datuk Azahar Ibrahim, the Penaga Assemblyman who is also the Penang state Umno secretary could not convince many Umno members in Penanti to vote for the Independent candidate Aminah aka Makchik Rongeng. Umno members have openly told him off and some even booed him when he visited.

According to Idris, Dr Mansur Othman of PKR would easily get close to 9000 votes majority and Aminah@Makchik Rongeng will get less than thousand votes. Independent candidate Aminah@Makchik Rongeng is confirmed backed by the BN/UMNO. See here.

We shall see tomorrow how accurate is Idris’s predictions.

My indication is that for sure Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) would win with an overwhelmingly majority and all the Independent candidates are going to lose their deposits, and Dr Koh Tsu Koon and The BN/Umno is going to be so embarrassed that they might just pack their bags and leave Penang for good..

A report was posted on the site of Al Jazeera television channel on Sunday quoted by LTTE confirming the death of its leader, Velupillai Prabakaran. It said he died on May 19 in the last phase of Eelam IV war.

According to Selvarasa Pathmanathan the LTTE’s head of Internatioal Relations based in Norway, Prabakaran’s final request was for the struggle to continue until Tamil people achieved freedom. Selvarasa also said that the LTTE would observe a week of mourning to mark Prabakaran’s death.

Last Tuesday, hours before the Sri Lanka military confirmed the death of Prabakaran, Mr. Selvarasa had said the LTTE leader was still alive. Never mind about that as it was part of the strategy. I too had said here that Prabakaran is alive and kicking.

So guys, the game is over for now for our Prabakaran, finito.

Praba tried but failed. Unfortunately, this fight would be his final stand. He was executed by Sri Lankan forces under the guidance of the Indian Intelligence with the full consent of New Delhi.

But, Praba is not dead, Praba is alive in all of us. Prabakaran’s struggle for independent Tamil homeland did not fail, it is still in progress: it is our struggle and our time will come.

Need now to groom a new Prabakaran for the struggle to continue till we finally achieve our Tamil Eelam.

To the Fearless Fearsome Leader and one of my dearest hero I say this:

Rest in Peace, Praba, knowing we will not be giving up anytime soon.

Will like to quote here Emiliano Zapata’s famous quote “it is better to die standing than to live on your knees.”

Want to know the secret to longevity? Just rev up your diet with fresh fruits, green tea, fish and red wine

“Breast milk is responsible for higher IQ and leads to lesser chances of having diabetes, hypertension and asthma. It has long term advantages even when the baby grows up into an adult and therefore ensures longevity,” says Dr. Arun Soni, consultant at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital’s Department of Neonatology.

“It is a complete food for babies. It is hygienic. It gives extra immunity to the body of the baby and protects them from illnesses,” he says.

Dr. Seema Puri of Department of Nutrition at Institute of Home Economics says dietary adjustments may not only influence present health but may determine whether or not an individual will develop diseases like cancer, cardiovascular disease and diabetes much later in life.

Dr. Puri recommends a high intake of vegetables (particularly wild plants), fruits, nuts and cereals mostly in the form of sourdough bread rather than pasta, more olives and olive oil, less milk more cheese, more fish and less meat.

Consumption of specific foods like whole grains, vegetables and fruits, fish, green tea, red wine, soy, nuts and seeds, garlic and turmeric may also have a beneficial effect on health.

“Scientific evidence increasingly supports the view that alterations in the diet have strong effects both positive and negative on health throughout life,” she says.

Constituents like fibre and several phytochemicals in these foods bestow antioxidant, antimutagenic, anti-inflammatory, antibacterial and immuno-enhancing properties – all contribute to lowered disease risk and hence increased longevity, experts say.

High fruit and vegetable consumption has been consistently associated with protection against muscular degeneration, visual loss, cataracts, respiratory disease, and breast, stomach and colorectal cancer.

Shashi Mathur, principal dietitian at Ganga Ram hospital cites the Japanese saying they have the world’s longest life expectancy, which has been attributed in part to their increased intake of fruit and fat and reduced intake of salty traditional dishes.

With the number of old in the world increasing due to better living conditions, scientists are renewing their research into what is essential for a long life.

Nutrition is coming to the fore as a major modifiable determinant of chronic disease and age-related decline.

The process of determining the lifeline of an individual in fact begins right after birth with breast milk being touted as the best and complete food which provides an early immunity to the body.

Although Umno/Barisan Nasional is not contesting in the Penanti by-elections that will be held on 31 May 2009, it does not mean that BN does not have a proxy candidate to give PKR’s deputy chairman Dr Mansor Othman, my friend, a free ride.

BN’s proxy candidate is no other than Independent candidate Aminah Abdullah who is one of the three independent candidates in the by-election.

Aminah Abdullah, 56, is the former Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) Penang Wanita chief and what better candidate to fight PKR in Penanti as ther BN/Umno proxy.

The proxy-war starts today.

Today at a press conference in Penang’s mainland, in Kubang Ulu near Bukit Mertajam, Aminah alleged that the Anwar Ibrahim’s boys in Penang had offered her RM80,000 as an inducement to withdraw from contesting the Penanti by-election. Not only that, she also said she was also offered the post of President of the Penang Island Municipal Council (MPPP) if she agrees to withdraw. On top of it, she also alleged, she was even offered the post of Deputy Chief Minister 1 (DCM1) if she manages to win the by-election.

According to Aminah, all these offers were made by Anwar’s boys during two or three meetings that were held before Nomination Day in her house in Jelutong in Penang Island.

Claiming she had as evidence, audio on CD and a video-clip on a handphone, Aminah, said she would be lodging a report with the Election Commission on Tuesday at 11am.

Does anyone smell a rat here? It has that distinctive and all-too-familiar odor. Look at the timing Aminah is coming out with all these allegations.

No, by these allegations our faith in Pakatan Rakyat is not shattered. In fact, our faith in Anwar is growing and our faith in Najib is nosediving.

It seems more and more to me, Najib has not led the nation to unity since taking over from Pak Lah, but ruled through fear and division. Dishonesty and deceit in areas critical to the public interest have been the hallmark of his Administration. I state this not to throw gratuitous insults at Najib, BN and Umno but to place the rakyats feelings over these things in the proper context.

Aminah, the BN/Umno proxy, to claim now all these allegations and that we the rakyat must take anything on faith is pure fantasy. It does not even merit discussion lah.

The curry powder (so dubbed by British colonialists) most familiar to Westerners is generally a mix of turmeric, paprika, fenugreek, coriander, pepper, cumin, ginger, celery seed, cloves, caraway, and red pepper. Curry powder may be most associated with Indian cuisine.

Scientists believe that haldi, or turmeric, which is used in most Indian meals, has an active ingredient that can help fight obesity.

A meal that includes turmeric will lead to less weight gain than one without the yellow powder.

This is because turmeric contains a plant-based chemical called curcumin which suppresses the growth of fat tissue in mice and human cell cultures, according to a study by Tufts University in Boston, published in the Journal of Nutrition.

Curcumin is also easily absorbed by the body, the researchers said, after experiments on mice.

“Weight gain is the result of the growth and expansion of fat tissue, which cannot happen unless new blood vessels form, a process known as angiogenesis,” said senior study author Mohsen Meydani of the Jean Mayer U.S. Department of Agriculture Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts.

“Based on our data, curcumin appears to suppress angiogenic activity in the fat tissue of mice fed high fat diets,” he said in a statement.

In particular, turmeric is effective when added to a high-fat meal, suggesting it could help fight obesity.

Researchers gave one set of mice high-fat diets and another set the same food with 500mg of curcumin added to each meal.

After 12 weeks, the mice which were fed curcumin weighed less than those which did not eat it.

The next step will be to perform clinical trials on humans, said the researchers.

I think its full of crap this Sri Lankan government claiming that they have eliminated Vellupillai Prabhakaran the supremo of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). In fact nearly all the international news media are also parroting the Sri Lankan government’s propaganda and saying that Prabakaran is dead meat,dead duck. I say it’s bullshit.

The thing is there are no pictures or video footage of the dead body of Prabhakaran. There is no real evidence to show Prabakaran is dead.

This is one the military trick to divert the people and weaken the spirit of the Tamil people.

Remember, even the Interpol in its physical description of Prabhakaran, describes Prabha as “very alert, known to use disguise and capable of handling sophisticated weaponry and explosives”. Interpol even says that these skills have helped Prabhakaran elude the Sri Lankan armed forces so far. And luck too was always on his side.

Even as far as last month, Sri Lankan army officials admited that they missed capturing him “by a whisker.”

Prabhakaran has sacrificed his life in order to obtain the Tamils’ Freedom and independence. He will continue to lead the quest for dignity and freedom for the Tamil people for a long long time to come.

Rajapakse is merely committing War Crimes and Genocide on the Tamils with the help of India, China, Russia, Iran and Pakistan.

Whatever happens, Prabhakaran will always be remembered by the Tamils. Prabakaran is an inspiration to the Tamils around the world.

Tamils have been butchered by Rajapakse and the Sri Lankan army and the Tamil community must be vigilant and must exercise maximum restraint whilst grieving for the loss of 100,000 Tamil lives in the barbaric conduct of the final chapters of this battle.

Long Live Tamil Elam! Long Live Prabhakaran!

The struggle will continue with or without Prabhakaran till we find a Tamil Homeland.

Our newest Foreign Minister Datuk Anifah Aman did all Malaysians proud when he admitted in a joint press conference in Washington together with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton about the credibility problem faced by the Prime Minister, Najib Razak in regards to the Mongolian Aminah@Altantuya Shaariibuu C4 murder case.

In fact Anifah raised the Mongolian Aminah@Altantuya Shaariibuu subject even though he was not specifically asked about the Mongolian murder case by the reporter during the press conference. Anifah uttered the Mongolian word when the question posed to him was for his comment on Anwar Ibrahim facing the Saiful Pondan sodomy trial starting this July.

Anifah is not a stupid dunggu fellow to utter the Mongolian word in front of Hillary Clinton and the world stage when he was not even asked about that question. Then if he is not stupid dunggu why did he volunteer to talk about the Mongolian C4 murder case? Is there a plot here? Then again, why did Anifah Aman talk about the Mongolian Aminah@Altantuya Shaariibuu murder to the view of the whole international community when the question was not even posed to him? Was there a grand design by Anifah and Gang to discredit our Prime Minister in the international arena? Or was Anifah Aman hoping to become the Deputy Prime Minister representing the Borneo States if that post of Deputy Prime Minister is to become a reality? Is Anifah Aman the brother of Musa Aman the Chief Minister of Sabah planted in Umno to screw Najib?

Ian Buruma from the New Yorker has written this piece below and has full of praises for Anwar Ibrahim.

Its called “The Malay Dilemma” and has no connection whatsoever with the controversial book “Malay Dilemma” which was written by Tun Dr Mahathir after he was expelled from Umno in 1970.

Read on….

“Dr Mahathir, whose father had some Indian ancestry, had always been obsessed with race, and the modern era of Malaysian politics can be traced to his book “The Malay Dilemma,” published in 1970, a decade before he came to power. It is a distillation of the kind of social Darwinism imbibed by Southeast Asians of Dr Mahathir’s cohort through their colonial education. The Malay race, the book argues, couldn’t compete with the Chinese for genetic reasons. Whereas the Chinese had been hardened over the centuries by harsh climates and fierce competition, the Malays were a lazy breed, fattened by an abundance of food under the tropical sun. Unfettered competition with the Chinese “would subject the Malays to the primitive laws that enable only the fittest to survive,” Dr Mahathir warned his fellow-nationals. “If this is done it would perhaps be possible to breed a hardy and resourceful race capable of competing against all comers. Unfortunately, we do not have four thousand years to play around with.”

Like this:

Malaysia’s first case of swine flu infection or also known as A(H1N1) infection has been just confirmed by The Health Ministry. A 21 year old Malaysian student who had just returned from the United States of America has been confirmed as Malaysia’s first case of A(H1N1) infection.

In a statement today, Health Department director-general Dr Ismail Merican said that the 21-year-old youth was warded in the Sungai Buloh Hospital on May 14 after suffering fever, sore throat and body aches, after returning from the United States a day before.

However, Dr Merican said that the public has no reason to panic as his department was collaborating with all relevant agencies to ensure that monitoring works were intensified and other proactive measures were taken to protect public health.

The Director General of Health Dr Merican also assured that the situation is under control and there is no need to panic

In PENANG, a fellow from Bukit Mertajam on the mainland, who was held a few days under observation at the isolation ward of the Penang Hospital has been declared free of swine flu.

A test on a sample of his blood sent to Kuala Lumpur was confirmed negative.

Two weeks ago, a New Zealand tourist was also admitted to the isolation ward of the Penang GH hospital for suspected swine flu /Influenza A (H1N1) but a blood test also showed up negative.